Touched By Fire: A National Historical Society Photographic Portrait of the Civil War.

kukav77pa102 Guide to the Camp Nelson Photographic Collection, 1864 Processed by: Staff, Antonio Thompson; machine-readable finding aid created by:Eric Weig Special Collections

Audio-Visual Archives Special Collections University of Kentucky Margaret I. King Library Lexington, KY 40506-0039 Phone: (859) 257-8611 Fax: (859) 257-6311 Email: sclref@lsv.uky.edu URL: http://www.uky.edu/Libraries/libpage.php?lweb_id=391&llib_id=13

Machine-readable finding aid derived from WordDate of source: 2001. Digital archival objects created: 2003-09-21. Description is in English. Guide to the Camp Nelson Photographic Collection, 1864 Collection number: 77PA102 Contact Information Audio-Visual Archives Special Collections University of Kentucky Margaret I. King Library Lexington, KY 40506-0039 Phone: (859) 257-2654 Fax: (859) 257-6311 Email: sclref@lsv.uky.edu URL: http://www.uky.edu/Libraries/libpage.php?lweb_id=391&llib_id=13 Processed by: Staff, Antonio Thompson Date Completed: 2001 Encoded by: Antonio Thompson

16 online images

Camp Nelson Photographic Collection, 1864 77PA102 Foster, G.W. .35 cu. ft. (1 box): 16 items The materials are in English. University of Kentucky Special Collections

Lexington, Kentucky 40506

Collection is open to researchers by appointment.

[Identification of item], Camp Nelson Photographic Collection, 1864, 77PA102,Special Collections, University of Kentucky.

Camp Nelson (Jessamine County, Kentucky) Military camps--Kentucky--Jessamine County--History Excavations (Arcaeology)--Kentucky--Jessamine County United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Hospitals--Kentucky--Jessamine County Camp Nelson (Ky.) Fee, John Gregg, 1816-1901 Freedmen--Kentucky Camp Nelson (Ky.)--History National cemteries--Kentucky Camp Nelson National Cemetery (Nicholasville, Ky.)

Camp Nelson, founded on June 12, 1863, in Jessamine County, Kentucky, served Union forces as a supply base and training center. Camp Nelson, named for Major-General William Nelson, was founded to assist Major-General Ambrose Burnside's advance into Tennessee. Union Army planners chose the site for its easily defendable location. Camp Nelson is best known for its role as the nation's third largest recruitment center for U.S. Colored Troops, helping to recruit, train, and equip eleven regiments. It also served as a recruitment and training facility for men drawn from Kentucky and Tennessee, but troops from nearly every state in the Union were stationed in or passed through Camp Nelson. At its height, Camp Nelson contained over 300 buildings and could garrison over 3,000 men.

African-Americans brought their families with them to Camp Nelson. The camp was overwhelmed with refugees. Without clear orders on how to respond to this situation camp commanders were forced to take matters into their own hands. In 1864, Brigadier General Speed S. Fry, commander of Camp Nelson, burned refugee housing and forced them to leave. Without shelter or food many succumbed to disease and perished. Union Army officials and African-American soldiers balked at this treatment and Fry was forced to rescind these orders and establish a refugee camp.

Missionaries helped administer the camp, providing schools and church services. Most notable among the missionaries was Reverend John G. Fee. Fee, an abolitionist, who also founded Berea College, which he encouraged refugees to attend.

By June of 1866 Camp Nelson Military Depot was officially closed. The Camp Nelson cemetery was created in 1863 and was named a National Cemetery in 1866. The remnants of the Camp and Cemetery have been preserved in Nicholasville, Kentucky. It is now used as an archeological site and is open for tours.

Collection consists of 16 albumen prints taken by G.W. Foster and published in book form in 1864. Book is badly damaged, but front and back covers and frontispiece have been preserved.

Related Material

Davis, William C., ed. Touched By Fire: A National Historical Society Photographic Portrait of the Civil War. New York: Black Dog and Leventhal Publishers, 1985.

McBride, Stephen W. Archeological Investigation at Camp Nelson: A Union quartermaster depot and hospital in Jessamine County, Kentucky. Lexington, Ky: Program for Cultural Resource Assesment, University of Kentucky, 1991.

National Cemetery System (U.S.) Camp Nelson National Cemetery: 6980 Danville Road, Nicholasville, Kentucky 40356. Washington, D.C.: Department of Veteran Affairs, National Cemetery System, 1990.

Sears, Richard G. "A Practical Recognition of the Brotherhood of Man": John G. Fee and the Camp Nelson Experience. Berea, KY: Berea College Press, 1986.

United States Army, Rhode Island Infantry Regiment, 7th. Seventh Rhode Island Infantry Regiment Records, 1863-1864. University of Kentucky Libraries, Special Collections.

"Camp Nelson National Cemtery-Jessamine County, Kentucky." http://www.interment.net/data/us/ky/jessamine/campnels/, (November 2, 2001).

Camp Nelson Restoration and Preservation Society. 1998. "Camp Nelson Union Army Supply Depot, http://www.campnelson.org/, (November 2, 2001).

"Camp Nelson Union Army Base Overview." February 15, 1998. http://www.users.kih.net/~dparker/nelson/nelson.htm (November 2, 2001).

Superintendent, Camp Nelson National Cemetery. "Camp Nelson National Cemetery Grave Registration." http://www.bjmjr.com/resting/camp_nelson.htm (November 2, 2001).

LWF Publications, "Refugees at Camp Nelson, Kentucky" http://www.coax.net/people/lwf/refugees.htm (November 2, 2001).

Container List Large posed group photograph; African-American men and women, some men in military uniform in front of large wooden white building , 1 01 1864 Subjects: African Americans Blacks Jessamine County, Kentucky Men Military Women Refugee camp; Street scene; dirt road with small white wooden houses lining both sides far into the distance, crowd of African-American women and children posing in street around man on horse., 1 02 1864 Subjects: African Americans Blacks Children Jessamine County, Kentucky Military Women Exterior of building; large white wooden sided building flanked by smaller buildings, two African-American men in front, one on horseback, 1 03 1864 Subjects: African Americans Blacks Children Horses and horse industry Jessamine County, Kentucky Men Military Boone's Knob near the Kentucky River; mountain in background with creek running in front, trees in foreground, wagons near creek. , 1 04 1864 Subjects: Kentucky River Nature scenes Rivers Transportation Trees The Hickman Covered Bridge; constructed in 1838 over the Kentucky River it was replaced with a steel bridge in the 1930's. A skirmish between the Union and Confederate soldiers occurred at the bridge on March 28, 1863. It is a white covered bridge over the river, trees in foreground and background, building flanking bridge. , 1 05 1864 Subjects: Bridges Civil War, 1861-1865 Covered Bridges Hickman, Kentucky Kentucky River Rivers Trees The Oliver Perry House, also known as the White House; it was appropriated to house officers and is currently in the process of restoration. The house is a large white wooden sided building with two floors and columns, there are various African-Americans siting on upstairs and downstairs porches, Caucasian man in military uniform sitting on porch, horse, and horse and buggy in front of house, dirt road in foreground, with trees in the background , 1 06 1864 Subjects: African Americans Architecture Blacks Jessamine County, Kentucky Men Military Trees The Post Headquarters; wooden building with two floors and cupola, two men are standing on sidewalk near wooden fence in foreground, trees and house with wooden fence in background , 1 07 1864 Subjects: Architecture Jessamine County, Kentucky Men Military Trees Camp Nelson convalescent camp; eight rows of four white tents each, small group of people sitting in front of them, trees and more tents in background, cleared area and tree stumps in foreground, written on back in pencil, upper left corner, "Harmsfeld (?) No 2," on lower left "8 Phelps 3a (?)" , 1 08 1864 Subjects: Camp Nelson Jessamine County, Kentucky Military Trees Landscape with building; three rows of white tents with wooden buildings behind them and two floor white wooden buildings adjacent, field in foreground and trees in background , 1 09 1864 Subjects: Architecture Jessamine County, Kentucky Military Trees Reservoir; large reservoir on raised ground surrounded by a wooden fence with three people standing on dirt road in foreground, buildings and trees in background. Water is pumped to the reservoir from the Kentucky River. There is a gazebo within the fence for officers. , 1 10 1864 Subjects: Architecture Jessamine County, Kentucky Kentucky River Military Rivers Trees Exterior of building; large white wooden building, sign on building reads "U.S. Sanitary Commission, Soldier's Home," large group of men standing in front, white wooden fence with men resting in foreground, dirt road leading to buildings in background , 1 11 1864 Subjects: Architecture Jessamine County, Kentucky Men Military Office of the quartermaster and commissary; large wooden building with porch and two floors, three men riding in wagon pulled by horses while other men stand in front of building, dirt road and trees in foreground, trees in background , 1 12 1864 Subjects: Horses and horse industry Jessamine County, Kentucky Men Military Rivers Transportation Trees Steam powered pump house; wooden house built on mountainside raised with a concrete structure and wooden beams above the Kentucky River, three people looking out of window, men sitting on porch, trees and wooden staircase going over mountainside in background, creek in foreground , 1 13 1864 Subjects: Architecture Jessamine County, Kentucky Kentucky River Men Military Rivers Trees Landscape; steam powered pump house from #13 above in center, surrounded by trees, creek in foreground, trees and clearing in background , 1 14 1864 Subjects: Architecture Jessamine County, Kentucky Military Trees Posed group photo; six men, four kneeling, two standing, all wearing coat and tie, bottom of photo reads "Isaac Damon, E.P. Knight, F.W. Boyden, J.B. Earnshaw, A.W. Waite, A.A. Livermore" , 1 15 1864 Subjects: Jessamine County, Kentucky Men Military Posed group photo, Approximately fifty-five African-American girls being taught outside by a Caucasian female while two bearded Caucasian men look on, white wooden building in background , 1 16 1864 Subjects: African Americans Blacks Children Education Jessamine County, Kentucky Men Military Women